Hill Pits,Blaenavon

Abstract

The Hill Pits presents to the Industrial Archaeologist a number of interesting items for study and speculation. Not only are there the remains of the pits themselves, but also the major part of the system of communications that linked the workings with the Blaenavon Ironworks, now in the care of the Secretary of State for Wales. This system of communications comprises a tramroad and inclined plane with the remains of a brake engine at the head of the latter.

This paper is the result of field work conducted under the auspices of the Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University College, Cardiff by the Blaenavon Class in Industrial Archaeology.     

The Leamington Scow: the excavation of historic structures and canal vessel at Leamington Wharf,Union Canal,Edinburgh

Abstract

Archaeological investigations were carried out at Leamington Wharf on the Union Canal in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. The remains of a stone quay, wooden platforms and staging, a rope walk and a canal vessel were investigated prior to redevelopment of the site for housing. The combination of archaeological excavation and historical research has illuminated the development of this former canal basin at the terminus of the Union Canal, and provided a rare opportunity to study the remains of a canal vessel likely to date from the early to mid 19th century. A scaled model of the vessel was commissioned as part of the project and will be submitted to the local museum service as a record.     

The Philosophy of Technology: A Review

Abstract

The continuous technological progress since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution seemed to confirm the Rationalists and the optimism of the Age of Enlightenment. This is no longer so. In this review new lines of enquiry into this change are discussed, and various philosophical features and traditions are explored. It proves difficult to define ‘technology’; the philosophy of science and its methodology are considered, mind and machines are contrasted and the review concludes with a consideration of the arguments put forward for metaphysical interpretations of technology.     

Halse Maltings,Somerset

Abstract

In the summer of 1986 The Conservation Section of Taunton Deane Borough Council asked the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society for advice on a malthouse at Halse which was the subject of a planning application for conversion into two dwellings. The site was surveyed in November 1986, and research into its history revealed an elderly farm worker who could remember it in use and some of the characters associated with it. The archaeology and history of the site are described.     

THE ROLT MEMORIAL LECTURE 2013: THE PUBLIC BENEFIT OF INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE — TAKING A POSITIVE VIEW

Abstract

This paper contains a summary of the 2013 Rolt Memorial Lecture, delivered to the annual conference of the Association for Industrial Archaeology in Dundee on 11 August 2013. The lecture commenced by observing the extent to which Industrial Heritage has progressed in recent decades, noting that it is now embedded in many national institutions in the UK, and has been ‘mainstreamed’ into heritage more generally. However, it now faces several serious challenges, not least the diminishing number and increasing age of activists, together with cuts to the State sector. It is argued, nevertheless, that industrial heritage has more to offer now than ever before and that more effective political engagement is required to ensure that this is understood by those with power and influence over the historic environment. To illustrate this point, current work on the Industrial Heritage Strategy for Scotland is discussed, together with the potential impact of the UK’s latest industrial World Heritage nomination, the Forth Bridge.     

Coalport Bridge: A Study in Historical Interpretation

Abstract

Industrial archaeologists frequently demand the preservation of monuments. Such preservation can be justified on the grounds that a monument has an educational function, or sometimes that it has potential for excavation. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that a surviving monument continually poses questions about its own past, and about wider historical issues, and to show how the understanding of one particular monument, the Coalport Bridge, has increased over the last twelve years, not just because new documentary sources have come to light, but because it has been possible to use the evidence of the structure itself to test the authenticity of other sources.     

Tom Licence,What the Victorians Threw Away. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2015. 108 pp., 90 illus. £9.99. isbn 9781782979756

Abstract

Beehive coke ovens in Derbyshire were used to provide fuel for local blast furnaces, for the Sheffield crucible steel industry and for railway locomotive fuel. Members of the Industrial Archaeology Section of Derbyshire Archaeological Society have made a careful survey of four ranges of beehive coke ovens at Ramshaw, near Unstone, formerly the site of Ramshaw Colliery.     

The Engineers of a Minor Port—Peterhead,Scotland, 1772-1872

Abstract

In the period when Britain's ports and harbours underwent major developments as the Industrial Revolution got underway, our leading civil engineers were much in demand, not just at the major centres of mercantile activity such as London or Glasgow, but also at numerous less important locations. In Scotland, improvements were encouraged by government grants through agencies such as the British Fisheries Society, and at Peterhead, the Town Council and the Harbour Trustees transformed its haven into a harbour of more than a purely local significance. Their success was partly due to their employment of some of the leading harbour engineers of the day.     

Forty years of Industrial Archaeology Review: A Personal View

ABSTRACT

This article presents a personal view of the origins and development of Industrial Archaeology Review in the 40th volume of its publication. This is preceded by an account of the earlier journals to publish articles on industrial archaeology, as well as a brief account of such articles in the sister journal, Post-Medieval Archaeology. A short history of Industrial Archaeology Review is included for future reference purposes. The range of authors contributing to the journal is considered, from the volunteers in local industrial archaeology societies to the professional archaeologists of the later period. Attention is given to the importance of the publication of the annual Rolt Memorial Lectures, as well as the occasional themed issues where articles on specific topics have been grouped together. Finally, the article suggests how best use can be made, in this article and in the journal generally, of the advantages of digitisation.     

A Strategy for Industrial Archaeology in the Black Country

Abstract

Remains from Britain's industrial past are being lost daily. Much has gone already, often with its importance unrecognised. This applies no more so than in the Black Country where a joint local authority/university initiative set about addressing the problem by identifying, through Local Area Surveys, significant remains from the industrial period. Arising from this, Dudley MBC's 'Strategy for Industrial Archaeology' now allows important sites to be flagged throughout the planning and development process and, with public involvement and the imaginative use of existing controls, a degree of protection is afforded. It is hoped that the approach described below will form the basis of discussion and encourage similar initiatives elsewhere.     

THE ROLT MEMORIAL LECTURE 2012: INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AT RISK

Abstract

This article describes the 2011 English Heritage ‘Industrial Heritage at Risk’ project. Having examined the findings of a public attitudes survey on the industrial heritage, it looks at the key risks and conservation solutions facing industrial sites, and the role the lead organisations play in their rescue. The entries on the Heritage at Risk Register are examined and the top ten industrial heritage at risk sites in England identified. A range of outputs are described together with the media coverage that accompanied the launch of the project.

Progress since 2011 is considered including the separation in April 2015 of English Heritage into two organisations — Historic England and the English Heritage Trust. The important role that volunteers and local groups play in the conservation and management of England's industrial heritage is acknowledged throughout, and a possible new role for the Association for Industrial Archaeology suggested as part of Heritage 2020.     

Notes and News

Abstract

The history of industrial activity in an area not normally thought of as an engineering stronghold shows how some highly significant engineering developed; up to the 1950s more people were employed in engineering in the Bristol area than in any other single trade. Bath, as a centre of tourism and of 'polite' society, is archetypal of British attitudes to industry yet the development here of Stothert &; Pitt crane and pump making and the forgotten lessons of the Day two-stroke engine of 1891 show the vital importance of manufacturing industry to the creation of wealth in Bath as elsewhere. Yet we continue scandalously to ignore the proper study of our industrial past in favour of more attractive but much less significant aspects of our history, and thus fail to learn the many lessons that history could reveal. This paper is a revised version of an invited lecture given to the Association for Industrial Archaeology, at its ninth annual conference at Bath in September 1987.     

Ironbridge—The First Ten Years

Abstract

This year the Iron Bridge in Telford, Shropshire, celebrates its bicentenary. One of the best known symbols of industrialisation in eighteenth century England, it is also the focal point of the Severn Gorge which stretches for three miles from Coalbrookdale to Coalport. Here the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust has been engaged for the last ten years in preserving and interpreting the remains of this 'cradle of the Industrial Revolution'. This paper reviews the Trust's development over this period, the nature of its finance and management and some of its aims and aspirations for the future.     

Preservation in Industrial Archaeology

Abstract

Much of the recent interest in Industrial Archaeology has grown out of the preservation movement: the standing of the subject, in the eyes of the world, is particularly influenced by our choices for preservation and the methods of presentation which we employ. It therefore behoves us to ensure a proper theoretical basis for industrial preservation. This paper offers some suggestions for much needed guidelines concerning the rational selection and treatment of those industrial remains which ought to be preserved. The question of 'total environment preservation' is also considered.     

Shooting in the Dark: Recovering the Jewish Farmers of an American Zion

Abstract

The authors argue that the publication of any new historical data series requires a formal estimate of its margins of error. We show how overall margins of error may be calculated for the standard forms of historical data series from information on the reliability of its components. The presentation of such margins of error should be transparent, allowing readers both to judge the estimate and to test the implications of applying different standards. An illustration is provided for Hoffmann's industrial output series for Britain, 1780–1831. The calculations emphasize the value of this approach to the recent debate on measuring growth rates during the British Industrial Revolution and suggest its merits more generally.     

The Offham Chalkpit Tramway: its History and Archaeology

Abstract

Chalk was in considerable demand for agricultural use in the early years of the nineteenth century, and an inclined plane, including a tunnelled section, was built in 1809 to connect the chalkpits at Offham with the newly canalised River Ouse. Tom Evans has examined the Shiffner correspondence to investigate the sources of the iron plateway supplied to the Offham scheme, and Ron Martin, together with other members of the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society, has surveyed the field evidence for this interesting industrial survival in rural Sussex.     

Institute on Industrial Archaeology

Abstract

The first Institute on Industrial Archaeology was held last summer in Troy, New York. Other Institutes are planned for the future that will demonstrate the role of archaeology in understanding industrial processes and the history of technology.     

Europe,public opinion,and Brexit*

ABSTRACT

The construction – and deconstruction – of Europe is a spatial democratic process, and public opinion is central to it. One part of public opinion is fuelled by pragmatic – either economic (the search for prosperity) or strategic (the need for security) – arguments. Another is fired by political, moral and religious ideologies and identities (and utopian views of Europe in particular). Attitudes concerning Europe were never identical in the Western or Eastern halves of the continent, or in Britain. They evolved in connection with processes of economic change (from the second to the third phase of the Industrial Revolution), and latterly in relation to globalization and its geographic impact. Euroscepticism demands a deep adjustment of Europe to its current political-intellectual scene and geographic organization.